Final round of the Adrian Hemingway Northern Speed Championship at Kames on 7 October. I'll be there and looking to beat my (rather unimpressive) personal best time of 104.12sec.

Practice will start around 10am with the competitve runs after lunch at about 12.30pm.

Entry will be £4 but the organising club is looking for marshalls so if anyone fancies free entry and £5 for fuel and lunch, let me know and I'll pass on the contact details.

If anyone fancies entering (go on!), Wigton Motor Club are offering half price entry (£35) for complete novices. However, you'd need to join the club and have an MSA Nat-B licence. Closing date is this Friday.

Today's meeting was the final round of the Adrian Hemingway Northern Speed Championship and whilst my class had been decided a few weeks back, I was aiming to beat my previous best of 104.12 secs and reel in some of the competition.

It was quite damp first thing and I struggled to get grip on the first run. I locked up coming into the hairpin but managed to keep my cool and nurse it round (unlike last time!). I posted 106.35 secs.

Second practice was much better. A good, clean start and nice and tidy round all the bends saw me smash my previous best with a 102.86 secs. I was well chuffed but it seemed clear I could go faster as the track dried out.

I have a history of doing my fastest runs in practi ce to I was well pleased to get a 102.25 secs run in my first timed run. I did think I might be reaching the peak but I've been reading lots of motor racing books recently and one of the key things is to constantly ask positive questions like "where can I go faster". So, I started jotting down a few notes and cme to the conclusion I could brake less for the first turn and trail brake into the hairpin (to help the car turn-in).

Next run, I tried my new ideas I'm on a roll now The car is sliding nicely through turn 1 and I'm consistently on the rev limiter approaching turn 2. I get a nice bit of oversteer mid-hairpin and no hint of understeer now. The end result - 101.89secs

More notes - this time I'm intent on braking less and taking more kerb into turn 1. I get a good start and really attack the first two corners but my dreaded 'clunk' has reappeared (see previous threads). I carry on regardless and notice the car is now sliding on turn 1, turn 2 and through the hairpin. For the first time ever, I'm driving near the limit fairly consistently. Despite the 'clunk', I post a new personal best of 100.99 secs. The magic 100 second barrier is within my grasp.........

Final run comes round and the car in front of me has an off. This means I'm sitting around for a few minutes contemplating my strategy. Not good. I get a good start and get round the first two laps fairly well. On the third lap, I brake just a wee bit to lightly at the hairpin and carry way too much speed in. The car understeers like crazy and I'm up on the concrete before I know it. I ease off the gas and manage to cling on round but I've lost a lot of speed. I post a now disappointing 101.67 secs. Disappointed - yes - but I would have been over the moon with that time at the beginning of the day!

So, my best time gets me fifth in the class and sees me beating a Honda Civic and a Lotus Elise. I was just pipped to fourth place by a guy in his very first sprint which miffed me a bit until I was told his car was a 285bhp four wheel drive VW Golf Rallye. Best of all, I finish the season only 2 seconds off the front runners - in my first few events, I was 16 seconds off the pace!

I finished the championship 3rd in class R2 (roadgoing cars over 1400cc). Roll on 2008..............

PS - thanks to the guys who turned up to support me. I hope you had a good day out - it certainly raised some eyebrows in the paddock when you all cheered!

kevham wrote:Si - I now firmly believe sub 100 seconds is definitely possible in a standard car. Next season I'll be aiming for mid 90s as I'll be running Toyo R888s and adjustable suspension.

Adjustable suspension isn't standard

As I said to you at one of the pub meets, the Koni suspension mod gave me the biggest improvement at Kames and it's all about being able to carry speed through the corners. In my opinion, the only real place that the SC helps is coming out of the hairpin ......